In a fully automated processing environment there often exist exceptions, anomalies and adjustments that do not lend themselves to the automated process. Conventional automated processing platforms may not properly accommodate exceptional circumstances that may arise but that either cannot, by their nature, be automated, or for which automation is not cost effective. Thus, even in a highly automated environment, there will be a need for a manually initiated activity. In a distributed computing system of an automated platform for a financial investment institution, manually initiated activities may be required in several areas. These areas include journal processing, such as, balancing write-offs by a fixed income division (FID), initiating client payments, amending or canceling a trade, sending a duplicate copy of a confirmation based on a client request and so on.
Manually initiated activities, however, are subject to several shortcomings with respect to conventional automated processing platforms. In this respect, manually initiated activities (e.g., data entry) may not incorporate best practices such as compliance with regulators, auditors, operational risk management groups, business partners and the like. Further, conventional automated platforms may not provide the appropriate infrastructure to apply suitable business rules defined at the manual event level. Such platforms also may not provide datagates at the account level, authorized workflows and/or robust audit trails.